Six of the best: Lang Lang performances | Classical-Music.com Six of the best: Lang Lang performances We celebrate the multi-faceted people’s pianist 31 October 2014 - 11:36am Rating: 0 Having played the piano since the age of two, turned it into a profession by three and performed his first full recital when he was five, chinese pianist Lang Lang has packed a greater number of milestones into 32 years than most people can count in their lifetime. It may have been the big Romantic crowd-pleasers that made him a household name but, as the release of his latest recording of Mozart with Nikolaus Harnoncourt shows, that’s not all he can do. Here are six performances by Lang Lang that demonstrate the many sides to his multi-faceted career. 1. 'Horse' at the 2008 BBC Proms Lang Lang is not the only musician in his family: his father, Lang Guoren is an accomplished player of the Chinese erhu and leader of a traditional orchestra in the city of Shenyang.

The complex relationship between father and son is a source of great interest to the pianist’s fans: Lang Lang credits his father as being the ‘driving engine’ behind his practise, but has also hinted at a darker and more demanding side to the relationship. The only tension in this energetic performance at the 2008 Proms , however, comes from the music itself. This traditional Chinese folk song seems to capture a peculiar mood which is both frantic and serene. The two seem unable to contain their excitement at making music together and their wide grins suggest a mutual agreement that such a dedication to music making has paid off. 2. Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor Lang Lang’s newest recording, The Mozart Album, is a departure from the big Romantic concertos he is famous for, but it is clear that the pianist has always harboured a talent for Mozart . In this performance, recorded in China in 2005, Lang Lang plays Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24, a work he has chosen to feature on the new album. The concerto was finished by Mozart just three weeks after his 23rd Piano Concerto, but the work shows no evidence of being rushed.

In fact, the piece's sweeping orchestral phrasing, and intricate piano part, has earned it a deserved reputation as one of Mozart’s triumphs. 3. Concert at the United Nations Lang Lang is no stranger to charitable work. After the 2008 Bejing Olympics, he launched the Lang Lang International Music Foundation , which gives children access to a music education regardless of their background. He is also a UNICEF ambassador and the youngest United Nations messenger for peace. Last week, to celebrate the UN’s 69th birthday, he joined an orchestra of players from all over the world for Tchaikovsky ’s Piano Concerto No.1. His unashamedly emotional style of playing in this performance confirms him as a true master of Romantic repertoire. The full concert is below, with Lang Lang's appearance at 01:08:55. 4. Mozart’s Sonata in D for Piano Four-Hands with Daniel Barenboim Although he is 40 years younger than legendary pianist Daniel Barenboim, Lang Lang proves the perfect partner for him in this performance of Mozart’s Sonata in D for Four-Hands.

Lang Lang has studied with Barenboim and counts him as one of his favourite Mozartians. In this delicate sonata, the two compliment each other throughout, weaving their individual parts together with intuitive skill. 5. Chopin: Étude Op. 10, No. 5 (with an orange) Lang Lang had his audience in stitches when he whipped out an iPad for an effortless rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee in an encore once . But that’s not the silliest he’s been. Back in 2007 he demonstrated yet another skill in a video where he rolled an orange across the keyboard to play the right hand part of Chopin ’s infamously difficult Étude Op. 10, No. 5, nicknamed the ‘Black Key etude’ because of the six flats in the key signature. 6. Mozart for Two The pairing of Lang Lang with conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt in the pianist’s latest album may seem an unlikely one, but this short video shows how well the two compliment one another. There is a great mutual respect in the partnership, with the two simultaneously teaching and learning from each other.

Harnoncourt, a master of historically-informed performance, commends the openness displayed by Lang Lang, while the pianist praises the logic behind his conductor’s advice. This snapshot gives an insight into the energy and passion behind The Mozart Album, which Lang Lang has described as a milestone in his career. Biography | Lang Lang Lang Lang Biography Biography If one word applies to Lang Lang, to the musician, to the man, to his worldview, to those who come into contact with him, it is “inspiration”. It resounds like a musical motif through his life and career. If one word applies to Lang Lang, to the musician, to the man, to his worldview, to those who come into contact with him, it is “inspiration”. It resounds like a musical motif through his life and career.

He inspires millions with his open-hearted, emotive playing, whether it be in intimate recitals or on the grandest of stages – such as the 2014 World Cup concert in Rio, with Placido Domingo, to celebrate the final game; the 56th and 57th GRAMMY Award two years in a row, where he performed with Metallica and Pharrell Williams; the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where more than four billion people around the world viewed his performance; the Last Night of the Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall, or the Liszt 200th birthday concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra and Charles Dutoit which was broadcast live in more than 300 movie theaters around the United States and 200 cinemas across Europe (the first classical music cinema cast to be headlined by a solo artist).

He forms enduring musical partnerships with the world’s greatest artists, from conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel and Sir Simon Rattle, to artists from outside of classical music – among them dubstep dancer Marquese “nonstop” Scott, king of the crooners Julio Inglesias and jazz titan Herbie Hancock. He even builds relationships with corporations who will help him get classical music to ever-more people - And he builds cultural bridges between East and West, frequently introducing Chinese music to Western audiences, and vice versa. Yet he never forgets what first inspired, and continues to inspire him. Great artists, above all the great composers – Liszt, Chopin and the others – whose music he now delights in bringing to others. Even that famous old Tom and Jerry cartoon “The Cat Concerto” which introduced him, as a delighted child, to the music of Liszt – and that childlike excitement at the discovery of music now surely stays with him and propels him to what he calls “his second career”, bringing music into the lives of children around the world, both through his work for the United Nations and through his own Lang Lang International Music Foundation.

It takes a special kind of dedication to come from a small Chinese town Shenyang , to travel to the big city as a small child and to win the attention of the country’s finest music professors. And then to leave behind your home country altogether to join the world-famous Curtis Institute of Music Philadelphia, USA. Lang Lang achieved all of these early on – he started playing piano aged three, won the Shenyang Competition and gave his first public recital by the time he was five, entered Beijing’s Central Music Conservatory aged nine, won first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians’ Competition and playing the complete Chopin Etudes at the Beijing Concert Hall at 13. He left for America, Curtis and the great piano teacher Gary Graffman and when his moment came, he was ready. That moment happened when, aged 17, he was called upon to make a dramatic last-minute substitution for the famous Andre Watts to perform in the “Gala Of The Century”, playing a Tchaikovsky concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It made him what journalists like to call an “overnight star” and the world’s finest concert halls quickly beckoned.

Today, his resume reads like a bestseller (and indeed his auto biography, Journey of a Thousand Miles, has been published by Random House in eleven languages, and was released to critical acclaim – and as part of his commitment to the education of children, he released a version specifically for younger readers, entitled Playing with Flying Keys). He has been heralded as the “hottest artist on the classical music planet” by the New York Times, has played sold out concerts in every major city in the world and is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic orchestras. Time Magazine has included Lang Lang in the “Time 100”, the magazine’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, naming him as a symbol of the youth of China, and its future. Lang Lang is the cultural ambassador of the cities of Shenzhen and Shenyang.

And if the Chinese passion for piano isn’t solely due to him, he has played no small part as a role model to encourage more than 40 million Chinese children to learn to play the instrument – a phenomenon coined by The Today Show as "the Lang Lang effect." Steinway Pianos, for the first time in their century-and-a-half-long history, named a piano model after a single artist when they introduced “The Lang Lang Piano” to China. That piano, specially designed for early music education, is now on its fifth iteration. And the child Lang Lang was and who, perhaps, is always with him, would surely have approved of the way he gives back to children around the world. His volunteer activities include mentoring rising young talented pianists, convening 100 piano students at a time in concert, performing for sick children in hospi­tals, delivering classical music recitals in underserved and remote communities, and donating his musical talents to raise awareness of other charitable causes. These charitable efforts have led to the launch of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation, with its goals of cultivating tomorrow’s top pianists, championing music education at the forefront of technology, and building a young audience through live music experiences.

The Financial Times described Lang Lang as “evangelical in his efforts to spread the popularity of classical music.” And in May 2009, Lang Lang and three chosen young scholars from the foundation – aged between 6 and 10 years old – performed together on The Oprah Winfrey Show on "Oprah's Search for the World's Most Smartest and Most Talented Kids." In 2011, Lang Lang Music World was launched, a multi-functioning arts complex located in Shenzhen and Chongqing, China, where children can go to receive piano education, participate in master classes and competitions, attend concerts and purchase educational products. Lang Lang himself continues to give master classes regularly throughout the world at the invitation of the most prestigious music institutions, including the Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music and Hanover Conservatory, as well as all the top conservatories in China where he holds honorary professorships. Elite universities such as Oxford, Harvard and Columbia have invited him to give talks.

Lang Lang enjoys reaching audiences of all sizes and few come bigger than that of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, of which Lang Lang was the first official Ambassador – a role, created by YouTube and Google that combined two of his great loves, music and outreach through technology. More traditionally, tens of thousands of people have enjoyed Lang Lang’s performances in open-air concerts in parks and venues around the globe, including Central Park in New York City, Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Ravinia Festival in Chicago, Theaterplatz in Dresden and Derby Park in Hamburg. Lang Lang participated in the opening concert at Munich's Olympic Stadium with Mariss Jansons, marking the commencement of the World Cup Games. In celebratory concerts for the closing of 2008 Euro Cup finals, Lang Lang played with the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta in front of Schönbrunn Palace. And he marked the New Year’s Eve gala opening of the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing with another great conductor, Seiji Ozawa. In December 2007, Lang Lang was guest soloist at the Nobel Prize concert in Stockholm, an event attended by Nobel Laureates and members of the Royal Family.

He performed as soloist in Oslo for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony and concert for President Barack Obama. Lang Lang has made numerous TV appearances, including The Today Show, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show, 60 Minutes, Wetten Dass and El Número Uno among many others. He has been featured on every major TV network and in news and lifestyle magazines worldwide, including such diverse publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, Vogue, The Times, Financial Times, GQ, Cosmopolitan, Die Welt, Reader’s Digest and People. As well as President Obama, Lang Lang has performed for numerous international dignitaries including the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, William J. Clinton, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, President Xi Jin-Ping and former President Hu Jin-Tao of China, President Horst Koehler of Germany, H.R.H. Prince Charles, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President Francois Hollande, Queen Beatrix and King Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Poland President Lech Kaczynski.

Of many landmark events, he was honored to perform for President Barack Obama and former President Hu Jin-Tao at the White House State Dinner, as well as at the Diamond Jubilee celebratory concert for Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. Wherever he can, Lang Lang tries to give back. In 2013, he was designated by the Secretary General of the United Nations as a Messenger of Peace focusing on global education. Lang Lang has contributed and worked to raise funds and awareness for earthquake relief efforts in China and Haiti. These efforts included auctioning the red Steinway piano played during his 2008 New York Central Park concert, donating the net proceeds to the American Red Cross China Earthquake fund, and organizing a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall, donating the net proceeds to UNICEF’s Earthquake Relief Fund in Haiti. He also currently serves on the Weill Music Institute Advisory Committee as part of Carnegie Hall’s educational program and is the youngest member of Carnegie Hall’s Artistic Advisory Board.

In 2015, he played on the UN Day concert to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations, and performed a festive outdoor concert to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the City of Havana’s founding; he donated his service as a gift to the people of Havana. Honors include being added as one of the 250 Young Global Leaders picked by the World Economic Forum and receiving the 2010 Crystal Award in Davos. In May 2011, Lang Lang received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales at the Royal College of Music, and received his second Honorary Doctorate in Musical Arts at the Manhattan School of Music in May 2012. Most recently he received Honorary Doctor Degree in Fine Arts from New York University. In December 2011, he was honored the highest prize awarded by the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China. He also holds Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Birmingham City University and China Central Conservatory (first in the school’s 75 year history).

More recently, he has received the highest German civilian honor, the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, in recognition of his distinguished services to music and, in January 2013, he was presented with the Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters, by the French Minister of Culture. In 2014, he received the Ondas Award in Spain and Bambi Award in Germany. In 2015, he became the first ever Ambassador of the Château de Versailles in Paris. He is one of the world’s most prolific and highest-profile recording artists. Featured soloist on the Golden Globe® winning score for the film The Painted Veil, composed by Alexandre Desplat, he can also be heard on the soundtracks of The Banquet, composed by Tan Dun, and of My Week With Marilyn. All of his albums have entered the top classical charts as well as many pop charts around the globe. In 2007, he was nominated for a Grammy® Award, becoming the first Chinese artist to be nominated for Best Instrumental Soloist.

In February 2010, Lang Lang joined Sony Music Entertainment as an exclusive recording artist; his first album with Sony featured a live recording of his 2010 recital at Vienna’s legendary Musikverein (including a segment filmed in 3D). His next CD, “Liszt, My Piano Hero” and DVD “Liszt, Now!” celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the great composer, while 2012 saw the release of “The Chopin Album”, 2013 a recording with Simon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker of two masterpiece piano concertos of the 20th century, Prokofiev No.3 and Bartok 2, and 2014 an album devotes to the world’s favorite composer Mozart, his recently released an album entitled “Lang Lang in Paris” features Tchaikovsky’s Seasons and 4 Chopin Scherzos.

Lang Lang (Piano) - Short Biography Lang Lang (Piano) Born: June 14, 1982 - Shenyang, Liaoning, China The Chinese pianist, Lang Lang, was normn to a musician father, Lang Guoren, a Manchurian, who specializes in the erhu, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument. At the age of two, Lang watched the Tom and Jerry episode The Cat Concerto which features the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt . According to Lang, this first contact with Western music is what motivated him to learn piano. He began lessons with Professor Zhu Ya-Fen at age 3. At the age of 5, he won first place at the Shenyang Piano Competition and performed his first public recital. When Lang was 9 years old, he was near his audition for Beijing's Central Conservatory of Music, and, having difficulties with his lessons, was expelled from his piano tutor's studio for "lack of talent". The music teacher at his state school noticed Lang's sadness, and decided to comfort him by playing a record of W.A. Mozart 's Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K.

330; she asked him to play along with the second movement. This reminded Lang of his love of the instrument. "Playing the K. 330 brought me hope again," he recalled. Lang was later admitted into the conservatory where he studied under Professor Zhao Ping-Guo. In 1993, he won the Xing Hai Cup Piano Competition in Beijing and, in 1994, was awarded first prize for outstanding artistic performance at the fourth International Competition for Young Pianists in Ettlingen, Germany. In 1995, at 13 years of age, he played the Op. 10 and Op. 25 études by Frédéric Chopin at the Beijing Concert Hall and, the same year, won first place at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Japan, playing F. Chopin 's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert broadcast by NHK Television. When 14, he was a featured soloist at the China National Symphony's inaugural concert, which was broadcast by China Central Television and attended by President Jiang Zemin.

The following year he began studies with Gary Graffman at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Lang Lang has given sold out recitals and concerts in many major cities and was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berliner Philharmoniker , the Wiener Philharmoniker and some top American orchestras. A Chicago Tribune music critic called him "the biggest, most exciting young keyboard talent I have encountered in many a year of attending piano recitals". Lang has been praised by musicians and critics around the world - the conductor Jahja Ling remarked, "Lang Lang is special because of his total mastery of the piano... He has the flair and great communicative power." National Public Radio's Morning Edition remarked that "Lang Lang has conquered the classical world with dazzling technique and charisma." It is often noted that Lang successfully straddles two worlds - classical prodigy and rock-like "superstar", a phenomenon summed up by The Times journalist Emma Pomfret, who wrote, "I can think of no other classical artist who has achieved Lang Lang's broad appeal without dumbing down." Lang Lang's performances have also been criticized.

His performance style has been referred to as having "soggy rhythms and heavy phrasing," and as being "truly boring", "just bad" and "unendurable". Critics who feel that his playing is vulgar and lacks sensitivity have given him the nickname "Bang Bang". Pianist Earl Wild called him "the J. Lo of the piano." Others have described him as immature, though praised his ability to "conquer crowds with youthful bravado". His growth in recent years was reported by The New Yorker: "The ebullient Lang Lang is maturing as an artist." In April 2009, when Time Magazine included Lang Lang in its list of the 100 most influential people, Herbie Hancock described his playing as "so sensitive and so deeply human", commenting: "You hear him play, and he never ceases to touch your heart." In 2001, after a sold-out Carnegie Hall debut with Yuri Temirkanov, Lang Lang travelled to Beijing with the Philadelphia Orchestra on a tour celebrating its 100th anniversary, during which he performed to an audience of 8,000 at the Great Hall of the People.

The same year, he made an acclaimed BBC Proms debut, prompting a music critic of the British newspaper The Times to write, "Lang Lang took a sold-out Royal Albert Hall by storm... This could well be history in the making". In 2003, he returned to the BBC Proms for the First Night concert with Leonard Slatkin . After his recital debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker , the Berliner Zeitung wrote: "Lang Lang is a superb musical performer whose artistic touch is always in service of the music". Lang Lang is a featured soloist on the Golden Globe winning score of The Painted Veil and can be heard on the soundtrack of The Banquet. He has recorded for the Deutsche Grammophon and Telarc labels.. His album of L.v. Beethoven ן¿½s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 & 4 with the Orchestre de Paris and Christoph Eschenbach debuted at No. 1 on the Traditional Classical Billboard Chart. In 2008, he was the pianist on Mike Oldfield's 2008 album ן¿½Music of the Spheresן¿½.

In 2010, he signed with Sony for a reported $3 million. In December 2008, Lang partnered with Google and YouTube in the project YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Lang has also recorded piano works for the video game Gran Turismo 5's soundtrack, mostly under the "Classical" subgenre. This included versions of Danny Boy, Beethoven's 8th Piano Sonata, and one of the game's intro pieces, the 3rd movement from Prokofiev's 7th Piano Sonata. Finally, he has performed for numerous international dignitaries including the former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II, President Hu Jintao of China, President Horst Köhler of Germany, Prince Charles, as well as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Polish President Lech Kaczynski. Lang Lang has performed at various open-air venues, including Central Park New York, Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, the Ravinia Festival Chicago, Theaterplatz in Dresden and Derby Park Hamburg.

In July 2007, he played at a concert from the Teatro del Silenzio, Lajatico, Italy, hosted by Andrea Bocelli. He performed "Io ci sarò" with Bocelli, and F. Liszt 's Hungarian Rhapsody. The performance is available on a DVD entitled Vivere Live in Tuscany. In December 2007, Lang performed at the Nobel Prize concert in Stockholm. ollaborating with Seiji Ozawa , he appeared at the New Year's Eve gala opening for the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. He also participated in the opening concert at Munich's Olympic Stadium with Mariss Jansons , marking the commencement of the World Cup, and in a celebratory concert for the closing of '08 Euro Cup finals Lang Lang played with the Wiener Philharmoniker under Zubin Mehta in front of Schönbrunn Palace. In 2008, an audience estimated at up to a billion people saw Lang Lang's performance in Beijing's opening ceremony for the 2008 Summer Olympics where he was promoted as a symbol of the youth and future of China.

During these games, he was also featured on the German TV station ZDF and made several appearances on NBC's The Today Show Summer Olympics broadcasts. In the opening ceremony he performed a melody from the Yellow River Cantata with year-old Li Muzi. Lang also collaborated with a German band Schiller to record "Time for Dreams", used to promote some coverage of the 2008 Olympics broadcast in Germany. In February 2008, Lang and jazz pianist Herbie Hancock performed together at the 2008 Grammy Awards, playing George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. The two were again brought in by United Airlines for the reintroduction of their "It's Time to Fly" advertising campaign with a series of new animated commercials aired during the 2008 Summer Olympics. In April 2008, he premiered Tan Dun's First Piano Concerto, subtitled "The Fire". Hancock and Lang continued to collaborate with a world tour in summer 2009. Lang played at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for US President Barack Obama and at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo the next day.

Lang Lang has made numerous TV appearances including The Today Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Good Morning America, CBS Early Show and 60 Minutes. He has featured in publications including The New Yorker, Esquire, Vogue (Germany), The Times, Financial Times, GQ, Die Welt, Reader's Digest and People. Lang holds the title of the first Ambassador of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Lang Lang was featured in the award-winning German-Austrian documentary Pianomania, which was directed by Lilian Franck and Robert Cibis. The film premiered theatrically in North America, Asia and throughout Europe, and is a part of the Goethe-Institut catalogue. In 2010, he was featured at the Carnegie Hall's China Festival and performed with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra on New Year's Eve at Avery Fisher Hall. In 2011, Lang opened the Last Night of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall performing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra . He played F. Liszt 's Piano Concerto No. 1 and F. Chopin ן¿½s Grande Polonaise Brillante. In June 2012, he played F.

Liszt 's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 and Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace. In 2012 Lang Lang gave a master-class to a select few pianists at the Royal College of Music featuring Lara Ömeroğlu and Martin James Bartlett. Lang Lang's autobiography, Journey of a Thousand Miles, published by Random House in eight languages, was released in the summer of 2008. Delacorte Press also released a version of the autobiography specifically for younger readers, entitled Playing with Flying Keys. Awards and outreach Lang Lang has received many awards and made many television appearances. He appeared in Time magazine's 2009 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, and in Gramophone magazine's Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2008, the Recording Academy named him their Cultural Ambassador to China. More recently, Lang Lang has been chosen as an official worldwide ambassador to the 2010 Shanghai Expo. Lang Lang was appointed by the United Nations' Children's Fund (UNICEF) as an International Goodwill Ambassador in 2004.

The Chinese government selected him as a vice-president of the All-China Youth Federation. The Financial Times reported that Lang is "evangelical in his efforts to spread the popularity of classical music." In October 2008, he launched the Lang Lang International Music Foundation in New York with the support of the Grammys and UNICEF. In May 2009, Lang Lang and his three chosen scholars from the foundation - Charlie Liu, Anna Larsen, and Derek Wang, aged between eight and 10 years old - performed together on The Oprah Winfrey Show." In June 2011, Lang Lang was engaged by Telefónica to make appearances concerning culture, technology, education and social commitment. On July 22, 2012, Lang carried the London 2012 Olympic torch through Hornchurch on its Redbridge to Bexley leg. On August 24, 2012, he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his engagement in the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Source: Lang Lang Website; Wikipedia Website ()July 2013) Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2013) Lang Lang - Artists - Classic FM Classic FM Schedule Chinese-born pianist Lang Lang was born on 14 June 1982, and is now heralded as 'the hottest artist on the classical music planet' by the New York Times. One of today’s true superstars, Lang Lang has received countless awards. Tickets for his concerts have sold out at all the world’s major music venues. He began playing piano at the age of three. By five he had given his first public recital. In 1995, he won first prize at the Tchaikovsky International Young Musicians Competition. Lang Lang's breakthrough in the West came in 1999. Substituted at the last minute for another pianist at the Ravinia Festival, Lang Lang played Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1. After a sold-out Carnegie Hall debut, he travelled in 2001 with the Philadelphia Orchestra to perform for an audience of 8,000 at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing.

Lang Lang has released numerous albums and DVDs on the Deutsche Grammophon label. He is the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic and all major American orchestras. The Lang Lang International Music Foundation inspires young people to believe that music can make life better. In 2004, he was appointed International Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF, raising funds for earthquake relief. His 2007 album of the first and fourth Beethoven piano concertos debuted at number one on the Classical Billboard Chart. More than four billion people watched him perform at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Lang Lang opened the Last Night of the Proms in 2011 playing Liszt's first Piano Concerto and Chopin’s Grande Polonaise Brillante. In June 2012, he performed at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert at Buckingham Palace. Did you know? It was seeing the Tom and Jerry cartoon 'The Cat Concerto' that inspired the two-year-old Lang Lang to learn piano.

Video: Watch the 'planet's hottest classical artist' Lang Lang play piano at the UN - Telegraph Music Video Watch the 'planet's hottest classical artist' Lang Lang play piano at the UN Chinese pianist Lang Lang performs in front of a delighted audience at a United Nations concert hosted by Alec Baldwin in New York 12:38PM GMT 26 Oct 2014 The United Nations has celebrated its 69th birthday with a performance by the Chinese piano sensation Lang Lang , in the General Assembly hall in New York. Lang Lang, 32, who is a UN Messenger of Peace, was joined on stage by an international youth orchestra representing five continents, which was put together especially for the occasion. Sting also appeared at the event, which was hosted Alec Baldwin - who described Lang Lang as "without a doubt the hottest classical artist on the planet". The concert was held in honour of UN Day on October 24, which marks the anniversary of the entry into force in 1945 of the United Nations Charter. With the ratification of this founding document by the majority of its signatories, including the five permanent members of the Security Council, the United Nations officially came into being.

Related Content Lang Lang Lang Lang Lang Lang Chinese “The piano is my passion. Through the Lang Lang Piano Academy I hope to inspire today’s kids to explore the piano and celebrate the wonderful world of music. There are no short cuts to learning the piano and playing it well, but the journey along the way should be imaginative and rewarding as well as challenging. My aim in this series is to develop a more creative way to study the piano that appeals to the next generation of pianists – wherever they are in the world!” Lang Lang The remarkable reputation of Lang Lang as one of the world’s leading concert pianists precedes him and he was recently included in “ Time 100 ”, Time Magazine’s annual list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. He is credited with playing no small part in encouraging more than 40 million children in China to learn to play the instrument. Throughout his prestigious career Lang Lang has remained passionate about the importance of inspiring new generations of young pianists, and the announcement of this new series mastering the piano, with Faber Music, comes at a time when Lang Lang is more committed than ever to his work on education projects and charitable activities.

Lang Lang | New Music And Songs | Lang Lang About Lang Lang Chinese pianist Lang Lang was born on June 14, 1982, in Shenyang, China. Labeled "the world's most successful pianist" by German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag, Lang Lang's fame has by far eclipsed that of most classical performers. Hearing Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in a Tom & Jerry cartoon inspired him to learn the piano at the tender age of two; at the age of five, he already gave his first public performance and won the Shenyang Piano Competition. He entered the Peking Conservatory at the age of nine and then won his first international award at the fourth International Young Pianists Competition in Ettlingen, Germany, when he was 11. Beginning in 1999, when the 17-year-old wunderkind played the First Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto together with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, he rose to international fame and toured the world, recording several albums along the way. He played Carnegie Hall on April 2001, and the show was sold out.

While his emotional, dynamic renditions of several classical pieces have found both praise and criticism, Lang Lang's star rose even further when he appeared in several high-profile German TV shows in 2006. His album Memory, on which he plays compositions by Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt, reached number one on the Billboard classical chart. The same year saw the release of Dragon Songs, a DVD chronicling Lang Lang's tour through China. Lang Lang also performed on the soundtracks of The Banquet (scored by Tan Dun) and The Painted Veil (composed by Alexandre Desplat). ~ Christian Genzel, Rovi Metallica and Lang Lang Become 'One' at the Grammys - Rolling Stone Metallica and Lang Lang Become 'One' at the Grammys Metallica and Lang Lang Become 'One' at the Grammys The metal group revisits the song it played at its very first Grammys Lang Lang and James Hetfield of Metallica perform at the Grammys. Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images All Stories Twenty-five years ago, Metallica played "One" at their very first Grammy Awards.

But despite an impassioned performance, they lost the Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance trophy to a band whose frontman played a classical music instrument, flute-mongers Jethro Tull. At tonight's Grammys , they embraced metal's classicism on that very same song in a unique collaboration with classical pianist Lang Lang. More News See the 25 best & worst moments from this year's wild Grammys As fames mounted around the stage, the pianist, dressed in baby blue, opened the song with flurries of discordant notes. In the shadows, guitarist Kirk Hammett skulked in a Lou Reed Transformer shirt waiting to jump in and eventually it all congealed. Frontman James Hetfield played the song's iconic intro and Lang Lang played some expressive runs. Then, as the frontman sang about feeling disabled in war, Lang Lang stuck to his guns and played emotively along with the melody – then things got heavy. Just before the group was to launch into the track's jackhammer thrash riff, Lang Lang played classical tills and worked his way down to the lower notes on his piano, readying himself for the death rattle to come.

It reached its apex when Hammett played his regular solo and Lang Lang banged out discordant, modern classical motifs. Both Hetfield and Hammett gathered around him, and – with Pharrell Williams' approval in the audience – the "One" came full circle. When Rolling Stone spoke to guitarist Kirk Hammett prior to the Grammys, he said he was excited Metallica was able to keep the integrity of the song. "We're keeping all the heavy parts," he said. "And it's going to be really cool and it's really dynamic." Prior to tonight, Metallica have won nine Grammys, but the last time they played the show was in 1992. Lang Lang last played the Grammys in 2008, when he joined Herbie Hancock in a rendition of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." That same year, he played the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics and, in 2009, he played the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony for President Barack Obama. The metal band was nominated today for Best Recording Package for the soundtrack release to their movie Metallica: Through the Never , but did not win.

Art directors Bruce Duckworth, Sarah Moffat and David Turner of the design company Turner Duckworth created an elaborate Digipak for the release. It featured an outer case with the group's lightning-like "M" logo die cut on the outside. The inside of the packaging unfolded into a cross, like the ones that rise from the band's stage in the movie during "Master of Puppets." Turner Duckworth won the Best Recording Package Grammy in 2009 for Metallica's Death Magnetic album. The group is putting out the film in a variety of video formats, including Blu-ray 3-D and a digital release, among others, on Tuesday. A limited edition of the movie comes with an actual piece of "Doris," the statue of Lady Justice the group detonates in the movie.

Question: Which instrument is played by classical musician Lang Lang?
Answer: PIANO